Top 8 small side hustles you can start with as little as $20

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Side hustles pays, you know!

Basically, side hustles are any of the small business just about anybody can start to make extra money. What I find sweet about this model of business is that you can run while at the same time keeping your day’s job. That’s why it is called a side hustle in the first place.

Whether you are looking to make extra cash to buy a home, pay off debt, save for retirement etc., running a side business is the way to go.

Guess what? You don’t necessarily need experience nor capital to get started. And the coolest part? You can operate your business right from the comfort of your home.

Check these ten small business ideas – they can change your financial fortune for good.

#1. Become a freelance writer

Can you communicate your thoughts to others via writing? Do you, at least to some extent, understand the principles of sentence construction? Writing could be the next big thing for you.

Hundreds of millions of website are live online today. Tell you what, each of this site needs a steady flow of content to stay afloat. That means ample writing opportunity for you.

Even if writing for the web isn’t your thing, you can still write for academics and educational agencies. Your writing task will include essays, white paper, dissertation etc.

If you are just starting out, it might make sense to start on online marketplaces like

#2. Affiliate marketing

I am a merchant looking to sell my products, but can’t find sufficient customers to keep my business running. To solve this problem, I recruit affiliates like you to help me with this task, and pay you a commission for whatever sales I make from the customers you refer to me.

It’s that simple, in theory though.

You need a website or blog and, of course, traffic to make a killing with affiliate marketing. Once you have settled that, head over to Commission Junction, Shareasale, Clickbank to find products to promote.

#3. Drop shipping

Wanna sell physical products online without having a physical store or even touching the products? Drop shipping is a clear winner.

Simply put, drop shipping is a business model in which a hustler like you sends products directly from a wholesaler to a customer, and earn a commission for doing so.

To get you started, I mean like right now, I have broken down the steps to starting a drop shipping business:

Decide on the product you will be selling. As a rule, the product should be inexpensive and of good quality, and should be in demand.

Find a supplier: There are two ways to go about this. First, do an extensive google search using modifiers and keywords like “shoe wholesalers”, “resellers needed” “wholesalers uk” etc. Second, use directories like this one

Select the platform to sell on: Bonanza, Amazon and Ebay are good places to start.

List your products: Now it’s time to sell to customers. List all the products you are selling, do well to tell customers which country your products are coming from.

#4. Teach English

If you are a native English speaker, one of the best businesses you can start is teaching others…yep you guessed it: English.

Although English comes naturally to you, it is pertinent you acquire a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) certification to go far with this profession.

You can either teach students English online via platforms like Skype or physically travel to the countries where your services are needed.

To find work, join TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) groups on Facebook, search online job directory or find the school you would like to work with on Google and pitch to them.

#5. Become a wedding consultant

The wedding industry has an estimated value of roughly $40 to $75bn. Just a minute fraction of this figure, and you are on your way to great riches.

To win in this game, you need to master the art of staying cool under fire. Remember, someone’s greatest life achievement has placed in your care, and so pressure is evitable. You should be good at managing money efficiently, too.

Once you have a certificate up your sleeves, next is to market your services. Since most of your prospective customers (brides) spend a great deal of their time perusing lifestyle magazine, it pays to run your ads there. Even better, you can run your ads on yellow pages – yellow page ads are cheap and effective.

#6. Become a pooper scooper

Pooper scooping gig, though dirty, is very profitable, especially if you live in an area with lots of dogs.

The job of a pooper scooper, in case you don’t know, is to clean and remove the waste of dogs.

It’s one thing to have a dog as pet, it’s another to take good care of it – not every pet owner has that kind of time.

Word of mouth marketing would be your best bet when trying to reach out to potential clients.

#7. Customer service gigs

To cut down cost and improve efficiency, many companies have taken to outsourcing their customer service jobs.

On the average, expect to earn anything north of $15 on an hourly basis, though this will depend on your skill. Customer service side hustle gig is ideal for stay-at-home mums skilled at dealing with people.

There are two major routes to finding customer service agent job. One is scouring job sites like Indeed – tons of jobs are published daily there. The other is visiting a company’s site, and then heading over to their “career” section to check for openings.

#8. Internet research

Got a computer with good internet connectivity? Why not help others scour the internet for data and get paid for doing so.

Companies, researchers, web masters, writers –to name but a few – are always on the search for data on the internet, and boy, it isn’t easy to find them. For this reason, they outsource this gig to freelancers.

So, if you are the patient and meticulous type, this side hustle could be a good fit.

Indeed.com is still a good place to find work for this kind of gig.

Wrapping up

Contrary to popular opinions, you don’t need a start-up capital to launch and grow a small business to success. Tenacity, a willingness to learn and determination is all you need.